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POLICEPAY.NET
NEGOTIATION TRAINING JANUARY 18-19 -
JULY 26-27 - Santa Fe, NM (click here for information)
Police pay will equal
deputies Raise
for IPD officers will go into effect as departments merge, with or without a
contract The
city plans to boost police pay to match Sheriff's Department salaries,
eliminating a disparity that could have caused bad blood when the departments
merge. Mayor
Bart Peterson said Tuesday that the raises -- which will average nearly 5.5
percent -- will take effect even if the union representing the Indianapolis
Police Department cannot agree with the city on a contract before the Jan. 1
consolidation. "If
we're going to integrate these two departments successfully, I believe pay
parity, particularly on Day One, is an integral part of it," Peterson
said. Under
the plan, a patrolman would earn a base salary of $51,571, up from $48,410 to
$49,790. The
raises will cost about $4.4 million. The money is included in the 2007
budget. The
Fraternal Order of Police, which represents the rank and file of both
departments, eventually will negotiate one contract for the new Indianapolis
Metropolitan Police Department. City
officials earlier this year offered IPD officers a contract for 2006 that
would have equalized pay, but the union rejected the proposal, saying it did
not address issues such as longevity. Contract
negotiations are continuing. While
saying pay parity is important, FOP President Vince Huber accused Peterson of
"circumventing the negotiating process" and said the union wants a
complete contract, not one piece of it. Peterson's
office said details about how the raises would be implemented absent a
contract are being worked out. City cutting police, fire departments by attrition
Retirements will have
each department down to 112 members by the end of the year. And that
reduction, through retirements in the police and fire departments, could mean
three fewer police officers and five fewer firefighters, with further
reduction in fire minimum manpower in 2007. Canan declined to say Monday
how deep cutbacks might go, although he informed public safety unions
recently of the budget shortfall and the need to attrition manpower. The
mayor plans to meet with representatives of public safety unions on Dec. 5 to
discuss options other than attrition, and to announce cutbacks after that. Muncie City
Council forced Canan to live within the 2006 budget
next year, except to grant pay raises to public safety officers and other
city workers. The city then put new hiring on hold except for the recent
hiring of two firefighters. "We are
going to have to make some cuts," said City Controller Mary Ann Kratochvil, who is waiting on Canan
to decide police and fire cutbacks before reworking the 2007 budget. "A
lot of this will be done through attrition." Police Chief Joe
Winkle and Fire Chief Gary Lucas already have attritioned
manpower to make up the budget shortfall without laying
off police officers or firefighters. Both departments were at 115 officers
each this year. "We are
already at 112 and are in good shape next year," said Winkle. Last week,
Winkle met with Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 87 members to discuss the
reduction of three officers to make up the $251,200 in spending cuts for the
pay raises. "We have
been at 112 for the last couple of months and have provided the same
service," Winkle said. "The public will see no difference." Winkle does
plans to reduce the number of ranking officers by eight to reflect the lower
staffing numbers. There will be no change in minimum manning of eight
officers for each shift. Police Sgt.
Jason Webber, FOP president, said it was frustrating to be hit with more
manpower reductions when the public's appetite for public safety never ends. "We don't
want to lose anybody," said Webber, who added that the FOP supported
Winkle's plan. The mayor
informed the FOP that it would lose three officers through attrition, leaving
the department at 112. By comparison, Webber said the
national standard, set by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, called for 2.1
officers for every 1,000 citizens. Lucas also has a
plan to attrition fire manpower, although he
declined to give any details about whether shutting down fire trucks or
stations might be considered. The fire department had to come up with
$246,123 to cover pay raises. "What we
have to do can be done by attrition," Lucas said. Canan's letter to the fire union
indicated five firefighters would be attritioned to
make up the budget shortfall, and that fire minimum manning might be reduced. The fire
department is now at 115, although five firefighters, including Tommy
Crawford, Richard Huff, Daniel Knox, Randall Brown and David Upchurch, are
retiring next month. The city paid out nearly $400,000 total in pension
benefits to those retirees last week. Mark Hill,
president of Firefighters Local 1348, said the city never had any solution to
its financial problems other than to cut back public safety manpower. "I am not
sure the city bargained in good faith," Hill said about 2005 contract
negotiations. "We are down to bare bones as it is." Firefighters
gave up nearly $3 million in concessions like higher health insurance
premiums and reducing daily minimum manning from 33 to 29 officers over the
three-year contract that sets their base pay at $40,220 in 2007. The fire
department is understaffed by as many as 24 firefighters, according to
national fire protection standards, and Hill said firefighters would likely
file a grievance to challenge more cutbacks. By comparison, Alice Bennett, a
member of the Association of Concerned Taxpayers, said the city should renegotiate
its labor contracts with public safety employees -- contracts that gave
4-percent annual pay raises through 2006-08. "Times are
tough and you can only live with the money you have," Bennett said. Under the new
agreement, members of the police union will receive a 2 percent raise
retroactive to July 2006, another 2 percent in July 2007 and again in July
2008. In addition, a 1 percent raise will be awarded in April 2007, February
2008 and January 2009. "We saw
ourselves in total compensation being about 10 percent behind," said
Detective Sgt. Al Piombo, San Rafael Police
Association president, referring to similar departments around the Bay Area.
"We see ourselves closing the gap pretty well." The city has
renewed a host of union agreements this year, including those covering
Service Employees International Union Local 949's child-care unit and the San
Rafael Association of Confidential Employees. Highlights of
those contracts include general wage increases of 1.5 percent this year, 1
percent in July 2007 and 1.5 percent in July 2008 for confidential employees.
Members also receive 2 percent each year, beginning July 1, 2007, for special
confidential duties. Child-care unit workers, and nonsafety fire
employees elected to enhance the retirement rate, by which annual pensions are calculated, to 2.7 percent per year served after 20
years at 55 years old. The child-care unit also will receive a 3 percent
raise this year, 4 percent in January 2008 and 5 percent in April 2009. The city's
firefighters also boosted their retirement deal. The new arrangement grants
them an annual pension of 3 percent of their pay per year served after 20
years upon retirement at age 55. The fire union, whose contract was adopted
by the City Council in September, opted to spend the entire 6.5 percent total
compensation allotted to them for their two-year deal - instead of raises -
to enhance pension benefits, city officials said. "We were
the last ones in the county to get an enhanced retirement system," said
engineer Andy Rogerson, vice president of the San
Rafael Firefighters Association and lead negotiator. "We felt that it
was time for us to come up to this level of retirement." City spokeswoman
Lydia Romero, who participated in the negotiations, said each bargaining unit
gets the same, 10.5 percent of total compensation, but how the money is allocated
is up to each unit. The city remains
in contract negotiations with police and fire mid-management units, and the
engineers represented by Western Council of Engineers. Negotiations continue
with the city's SEIU Local 949 employees. Nonunion talks also must still take
place. Council
OK's police contract
Police
officers soon will receive a higher salary and more benefits after the Town
Council approved a contract Nov. 21.
Police officers
in At a meeting
Nov. 21, the council agreed 4-1 to accept a contract that raises starting
salaries for police officers to $42,000 and caps them out at $59,000. Starting salary
was $34,480, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Now,
officers will be paid on a seven-step plan, based on the years of service.
There will be a 3 percent increase for step two and a 5 percent increase
between steps three to seven. Officers will also receive a 3 percent cost of
living increase each year. The contract
will cover three years, from Oct. 1, 2004, to Sept. 30, 2007. Officers will
receive retroactive pay, collectively more than $166,000. The new contract
also allows sergeants to take home police cars. ''Almost all
cities allow officers the ability to take home cars because in the long run
it works out cheaper for the departments,'' said John Puleo,
Fraternal Order of Police representative said. In the past, the
town never allowed officers to drive cars to their homes because of a limited
budgeted, Mayor Glenn Singer said at the meeting. ''We have to be
competitive,'' he said. ``You pay for what you get.'' Because the
negotiations took more than two years -- the original contract expired Sept. 30,
2004 -- the parties likely will start negotiating the next contract in a few
months. ''We got this
one done and now we have to start all over again,'' Puleo
said. The officers
accepted the contract about two months ago, Puleo
said, but they were waiting on council approval. Negotiations
stalled because the two parties could not agree on one main issue: whether or
not officers should be allowed to have an arbitrator step in if an officer is
suspended. Under the old
contract, an arbitrator could step in only if the suspension was for more
than seven days. Puleo said that for ''job
security'' he would not budge. In April, the
town's special labor council James E. Baker told Puleo
the town would allow officers to have arbitrators, even for a one-day
suspension. The compromise
allowed contract negotiations to move forward. At that point
the parties began discussing salaries and the town's policies. Baker said
though they soon will be at the table again, he is hoping the ''good
relations'' remain. ''I hope this
contract is the beginning of an era of goodwill toward each other,'' Baker
said. The
city council approved two contracts Monday night with the Vancouver Police
Officers Guild, one covering 2006 and a second for the next three years, 2007
to 2009. The
guild represents 132 officers, 19 corporals and 30 sergeants. It is the
city's second-largest union. Only the Joint Labor Coalition, six unions that
bargain together for a single contract, has more members, with 213. The
2006 contract approved Monday calls for guild members to receive a 3.5
percent salary increase, retroactive to Jan. 1. That money will be awarded in
a lump sum, with back pay for union members to be disbursed before the
beginning of December. Next
year, officers, corporals and sergeants will receive a cost-of-living
adjustment equal to the rate of inflation plus 1.5 percent, for a minimum
raise of 2.5 percent and a maximum raise of 5.5 percent. For
2008 and 2009, guild members will receive raises equal to the inflation rate
plus 1 percent, still for a minimum of 2.5 percent and a maximum of 5.5
percent. The
city and guild agreed to the contracts without having to go to binding
arbitration. During
negotiations for the previous contract, the two sides reached an impasse in
November 2002 and proceeded to arbitration, but an agreement was reached in
January 2004 before an arbitrator could decide on a contract. All
of the city's 11 union contracts expired at the end of 2005. The city council
has approved new contracts one by one this year. One
of the city's primary goals has been requiring employees to pick up a portion
of health insurance premiums. Until this year, the city paid 100 percent of
premiums for more than 1,000 employees and their families. The
guild contracts specify the city will continue to pay 100 percent of the
premiums for employees' health insurance, but guild members will pay 10
percent of the monthly premiums for their spouses and any dependents covered
by the city's medical plan. Elizabeth
Gotelli, human resources manager, said the city
currently has the same arrangement with its nonunion employees. Other
recently approved union contracts also specify some type of premium-sharing,
although the employee contribution might be a flat monthly fee and not a
percentage, she said. City
officials say the new guild contracts contain several changes that should
either save the city money or allow it to more efficiently use police,
including: Reducing
vacation accrual rates for employees with six to 15 years of service. Allowing
employees to take compensatory time only when it will not require paying
overtime to maintain staffing levels. Retaining
a reserve officer program. The
city remains in mediation with the 159-member Vancouver Firefighters Union. Gotelli declined to speculate whether mediation will be
successful or if the city and union will proceed to arbitration. "Continuing
to talk," she said. "And that's about as much as I can tell you."
CONTRACT NEGOTIATIONS POLICEPAY provides
complete contract negotiations for your bargaining unit. We will:
Our fee will be a fixed
amount that is agreed to up front. The
fee will include all costs, even travel and hotels. There will be no surprises. We offer options with no up front
payment. You can make equal monthly
payments. If your contract is 36
months, you will make 36 monthly payments. During the term of the
contract, we will:
If we are not able to
reach an agreement with your city, we will provide arbitration services at no
additional cost. We intend to get an
agreement. Our approach to contract
negotiations is different than what you are probably used to. We engage in non-confrontational
negotiations that rely on developing relationships. However, we do not use so called “win-win”
negotiation. It’s a loser for
you. There will be no unfair labor
practice complaints filed by us or lawsuits and grievances. If that is what you are wanting you need to
call the usual knucklehead lawyers that have been screwing up police
negotiations for years. Intimidation
and blustering are not in our arsenal. If you prefer to
negotiate yourself we can provide any of the services listed above, with the
same payment plans, only at lower rate.
If this is the way you want to go, you need to attend one of our
negotiation seminars. The upcoming
seminars are listed on our website. For more information,
give us a call at (405) 234-2235, or contact POLICEPAY.NET Your
Ultimate Solution For Contract Negotiations |
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